SHILLONG: Pillbert Hanse from Khamar village in Ribhoi district of Meghalaya is a person with disability. He visited Don Bosco Museum in Shillong for the third time yesterday related to his research studies. He is currently doing his 2nd year BA at St. Anthony’s College, Shillong.
Although the museum, which is a hexagonal seven-storey building with 18 galleries, has an elevator, a person with disability misses out two galleries in each floor if s/he uses the elevator. For a person like Pillbert, who uses his knees and palm to climb down the stairs touring the museum is very straining and exhaustive.
When asked about his experience in the museum, he said, “It is very exhaustive for me to visit all the galleries in the museum by crawling all along the stairs. But every time I visited the museum, I gain new knowledge and I need to visit a few more times to finish up my research work…”
Fr. Joseph Puthenpurakal, director of the Museum said, “Efforts are on to make the museum more inclusive and accessible to persons with disability. We are also planning to make it more educative, interactive and more visitors friendly.”